The eyes have it: Men do see things differently to women

The way that the visual centers of men and women's brains works is different, finds new research published in BioMed Central's open access journal Biology of Sex Differences. Men have greater sensitivity to fine detail and rapidly moving stimuli, but women are better at discriminating between colors.

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[–] 283 points 2 years ago (24 children)
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    [–] 131 points 2 years ago (22 children)

    Still can't find your damned socks though

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  • [+] 53 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (10 children)
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  • [–] 39 points 2 years ago (8 children)

    Socks don't move of their own accord.

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  • [–] 42 points 2 years ago (7 children)

    Then how do they disappear from the dryer?

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    [–] 104 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (3 children)

    And most of us absolutely love filling those neurons with images of women

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    [–] 80 points 2 years ago (2 children)

    But they still can't see why kids love the taste of Cinnamon Toast Crunch...

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    [–] 61 points 2 years ago (2 children)

    ... Men are also ~20% larger than women on average. Is this count standardized by size of the person?

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    [–] 49 points 2 years ago (2 children)

    I'm curious about this. They say that it's related to in utero exposure to androgens, which means it's probably not as clear cut as XX vs XY, because intersex folk and folk with atypical hormonal exposure (such as fraternal twins of different sexes, with a shared placenta) experience different levels of exposure, and different reactions to that exposure.

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  • [–] 42 points 2 years ago (11 children)

    Whatever it does, it doesn't seem to help with colors.

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  • [–] 82 points 2 years ago (10 children)

    Men have greater sensitivity to fine detail and rapidly moving stimuli, but women are better at discriminating between colors.

    Literally under the headline.

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  • [–] 55 points 2 years ago (7 children)

    If only some men used those neurons to read

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  • [–] 39 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    Men have greater sensitivity to fine detail and rapidly moving stimuli

    Looks at every first person shooter demographic

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    [–] 32 points 2 years ago (10 children)

    Anecdotal proof time:

    My dad's truck.

    Me, my brother, brothers' friend and brothers' friends' sister, all XY, all see a greenish gray truck.

    My mother, sister-in-law, brothers' friends' wife, all XX, all see a dark green truck.

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    [–] 27 points 2 years ago (12 children)

    ok so, here's my theory. The obvious answer here is that this is obviously "for hunting" or something. But evolution doesn't really work that way.

    So my take on this is that this is actually an evolutionary adaptation to the different structure of the male body, as well as it's general abilities, and how they have been used throughout humanity. If men are generally stronger, taller, and faster runners, wouldn't it make sense that the visual processing would be adapted to be more responsive to these use cases?

    this seems like the only realistic answer to me. Something about men must be different enough, or at the very least, have been used differently enough at some point in time for a long enough period of time, that it has to have been an evolutionary adaptation.

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    [–] 22 points 2 years ago (5 children)

    women are better at discriminating between colors.

    Well I'm red-green colorblind so I never stood a chance anyway. If it isn't in a box of 8 crayons/markers, I don't attempt to use that color's name generally, cuz I will never pick the right shade. All the fuschias, magentas, maroons, burnt siennas, teals, cyans, etc. of the world can fuck off.

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  • [–] 20 points 2 years ago (4 children)

    Isn't colorblindness almost exclusively found in males too?

    Probably oversimplifying, but it's something about the mutation being on the X chromosome, meaning women have a backup X and men don't.

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  • [–] 16 points 2 years ago (3 children)

    Does this mean the visual center is 25% larger or that the configuration of cells is different? If it is larger where are are women's brains larger then men's brains?

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  • [–] 19 points 2 years ago (2 children)

    It means there are 25% more, but neurons aren't the only thing the brain is made of. Idk how much of a size difference, if any, this makes. Considering how sensitive lips and fingers are compared to equal sized parts of your skin in other areas, there might be a similar situation of just having a lot of space in the total structure for extra neurons. It could be a small increase in size, it could have no impact on size, more studies required.

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  • [–] 14 points 2 years ago (5 children)

    I've seen multiple people suggest hunting and get correctly told thats inaccurate

    But would war fighting, or just fighting in general what with our aggression n shit help explain it?

    The only times I've noticed this discrepancy in life are when hunting with women of playing competitive FPS games with my wife watching. I'll regularly see and react to things they don't, and are shocked when I shoot the sniper out of the tree on the other side of the map because yes, I did see him and I'm not crazy when I say I see shit flicker gdi

    Aliasing also bothers me more than any woman I know, and everyone I know who hates it as much as me is a man

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    [–] 12 points 2 years ago

    So the ladies can check out the men's plumage as they perform a dance off.

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  • [–] 11 points 2 years ago (8 children)
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    [–] 11 points 2 years ago
    [–] 11 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    women are better at discriminating between colors.

    Misread this as saying women are better at racism lol.

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